 The Major Players
Google YouTube Finalization
The $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube was officially closed yesterday and Google has set aside $200 million, subject to escrow, for one year to secure certain indemnification obligations.
While the press release doesn't specify the "indemnification obligations" one can assume that this money will go to a number of lawsuits that will likely result from the finalization of the deal. Now that YouTube is in the hands of Google, the underlying dollars are significant. YouTube has a number of videos posted which apparently violate copyright laws and unless Google does something to clean this up they will likely see more time in the courts.
"We are excited to have closed the acquisition in order to begin collaborating to offer the best in quality and depth of content, user experience and new business opportunities for our partners," said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google. "YouTube and Google will together provide innovative and exciting services for our users that will add a new dimension to on-line media entertainment. We look forward to working with content creators and owners large and small to harness the power of the internet to promote, distribute and monetize their content." |
Yahoo! And Vodafone - UK Mobile Advertising
According to a press release issued yesterday, Yahoo! And Vodafone have formed an alliance to enhance customer experiences on their mobile phones through new innovative mobile advertising. This alliance will provide both companies with new revenue streams that will certainly grow as more and more searchers turn to their mobile devices for online activities.
"Through this alliance, Yahoo! will become Vodafone's exclusive display advertising partner in the UK . Yahoo! will use the latest technology to provide a variety of mobile advertising formats across Vodafone's rich and varied content services. Yahoo!'s sales force and technology team will work with Vodafone to derive benefit from mobile's unique advertising opportunities while delivering the best possible experience for both consumers and advertisers. Vodafone and Yahoo! intend to roll out the initiative in the UK in the first half of 2007." |
Essentially Vodafone customers can receive special savings if they agree to accept the targeted display ads.
"Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile telecommunications group with equity interests in 27 countries across 5 continents with 186.8 million proportionate customers worldwide as at 30 June 2006 as well as 33 partner networks." |
Microsoft Office Live Released
Earlier Wednesday (November 15 th) Microsoft Office Live was officially released after a nine month beta period. Office Live gives the ability to easily create a professional online presence without complicated setup or server expenses.
Office Live allows users to register their domain, provide traffic reports, track sales and leads, and easily access and update their site. It also provides simple online business applications to help keep track of customers, projects, sales, employees and vendors.
The new release is the result of feedback provided by more than 160,000 beta program participants and it has a number of new features that were not included in the beta. Included is adManager beta which is designed to help easily purchase keywords on live.com and MSN, and mechanisms to optimize search advertising budgets.
Office Live offers three levels of service.
"Microsoft Office Live Basics is a collection of free services that allows small businesses to get started on the Web and to attract new customers; Microsoft Office Live Essentials includes all the tools, software and support provided with Office Live Basics and adds powerful new features for contact management to help generate repeat business for $19.95 a month; and Microsoft Office Live Premium includes all the offerings in Office Live Basics and Office Live Essentials as well as additional online business applications and collaboration tools that can be easily accessed for $39.95 a month." |
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